Climate change; stop this madness now - Editorial

In the aftermath of the apocalyptic super typhoon in the Philippines—described as one of the worst in the country’s history with at least 2,500 people killed and more than 600,000 displaced - the people and Government of Sri Lanka need to reflect deeply on the root causes of such catastrophes.

Global warming, climate change, environmental pollution and related vices of a selfishly arrogant world are known to be the main causes of the unprecedented devastation in nine regions of the central Philippines.

As millions of Sri Lankans watched live on TV, the horror and the terror of disasters manufactured by a self-centred world, we need to ask ourselves how and when such a horror could devastate us and what we could or should do to prevent it.

According to scientist Lal Motha, a retired senior officer of the Industrial Technological Institute (ITI), Sri Lanka faces grave dangers and there is an urgent need for effective action at personal family and governmental level.

One of the areas where we all could act with sincere patriotism for the common good of the country—in contrast to the pseudo-patriotism of most politicians—is by reducing the use of electricity not just to reduce our bills but as a means of reducing global warming itself. Ironically, when we switch off a bulb we become a light to the world. Despite heavy rain, Sri Lanka is using less hydropower and is heavily dependent on thermal power generated by fuel.  That is why electricity is directly connected with global warming. So to help prevent disasters like the 300 kilometre per hour typhoon and the resultant storm surge of more than 10 metres, we need to switch off unnecessary lights and reduce consumption by cutting down on the use of TV, heaters, blenders and other electrical gadgets.

Scientist Motha says another important area is transport. It is a complex issue but practically if we could discipline ourselves and use more public transport instead of private transport that also would be a sincere act of patriotism. When we reduce our carbon footprint we help contribute to the prevention of disasters from global warming. In many countries people have been inspired to measure their carbon footprint and take steps to reduce the amount of carbon they emit. Today city roads including the expressways are heavily congested with private vehicles. Every time we use public transport instead of our private vehicles we reduce our carbon footprint and help humanity to prevent global disasters. So we have to decide between self-centred comforts or conveniences and a countrywide catastrophe. Though it may at first glance appear to be turning the wheel back we need to understand that the use of the bicycle—singing hi hoi to Babi Achchi if we like is a positive contribution towards reducing global warming besides being a good form of exercise for better health.



" According to scientist Lal Motha, a retired senior officer of the Industrial Technological Institute, Sri Lanka faces grave dangers and there is an urgent need for effective action at personal family and governmental level "




Another important area where we could all act with patriotism is in the conservation of water. World economic analysts say the superpowers may soon go to war for water because there will be a major shortage of fresh drinking water if we do not save and save now. We could do this in simple ways and also in a little more complex ways. The simple ways will be to open water taps only partly when we wash, use less water for our shower baths by reducing the duration and not wasting fresh water.
There are many agencies which would advise us on how to instal rainwater harvesting or washroom water recycling processes in our own houses. Thereby we could save water, again not just to reduce our bills but to save our country and the world from disasters such as the one that hit the Philippines on November 8. Most analysts like Mr. Motha believe that because of global warming sea levels may rise by about one metre within the next decade and a large part of Sri Lanka’s coastline would be lost. That is how serious the crisis is and we all need to act immediately while the Government also needs to give priority to eco-friendly policies. As the Filipino delegate to a world climate change conference in Poland said on Wednesday: “Let us stop this madness and stop now”.